British Airways’ decision to retire its fleet of Boeing 747s will accelerate the airline’s sustainability efforts, according to recently appointed chief executive Sean Doyle. “That’s 32 older aircraft leaving British Airways, being replaced by modern 787 and A350 variants, and that’s an advancement of our sustainability commitment over the Covid crisis that we’re excited about,” Doyle stated during the UK Royal Aeronautical Society’s Climate Change Conference today. Those Airbus and Boeing widebody types are ”a huge enabler of more efficient operations”, Doyle says, explaining that BA expects to achieve an improvement “in terms of CO2 per kilometer travelled” as a result of the jumbos being retired early. The airline is currently assessing “exactly what that improvement would look like in the future”, he states. Beyond fleet considerations, Doyle believes that BA parent company IAG’s commitment to achieving ”carbon net zero by 2050” will involve “many dimensions”. Noting that “there’s no silver bullet” in terms of improving aviation’s environmental footprint, he cites measures “like sustainable aviation fuel, like offsets, like emissions trading, like airspace management”, which are “fundamental to getting the industry to where it needs to get to”. Doyle also acknowledges that “there are more exciting longer-term technologies like hybrid, battery and hydrogen”, but says that BA sees ”those coming from about 2040 onwards”, rather than offering near-term solutions. He adds that those technologies “will affect commuter, regional and shorter-sector sector journeys below 120 minutes more immediately”, meaning they will initially have limited value for an airline with a significant focus on medium- and long-haul routes. Asked if the coronavirus crisis might reduce some of the pressure on the airline industry to address its environmental impact, Doyle says sustainability will remain a “fundamental issue to tackle in terms of our right to operate” as the recovery begins. “People like flying, but they don’t like the carbon footprint from flying,” he states. Alex Cruz was at the helm of BA when the decision to retire its 747 fleet was made earlier this year, with Doyle replacing the former Vueling chief as chief of the UK flag carrier in October.

Source: Cirium

Dutch researchers believe that an increase in long-distance cargo flights, combined with steeper reductions in short-haul passenger services than for long-haul operations, are responsible for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions failing to fall in line with the overall drop in flights. Analysts from Netherlands aerospace research council NLR looked at movements to and from Schiphol airport from March to September 2020. They found that although total flights dropped by 67% against the same period a year earlier, CO2 emissions fell by only 55%. That differential was widest in May and June: although 85% fewer flights were recorded, CO2 emissions dropped by just 64% – a difference of 21 percentage points. During the July-September period, that gap narrowed to less than 5 percentage points, the research shows. The NLR thinks that the increase in overall freighter flights from Schiphol, up by 8% year on year, is partly responsible for the discrepancy. With cargo operations typically serving longer routes – burning more fuel – CO2 emissions were pushed up by 11% year on year. Dutch carrier KLM also used its Boeing 747-400 Combi aircraft more intensively than the year before – up by 14% – and for cargo-only operations from April onwards, contributing to a 24% rise in CO2 emissions. “On top of that, there is actually also a contribution from extra flights where cargo was transported in the cabins of passenger aircraft,” says Bram Peerlings, who was involved in the study. In addition, the NLR says that short-haul travel was hit more severely than long-haul. Overall passenger flights dropped by 69%, but corresponding CO2 emissions fell by only 63%. While travel between Amsterdam and destinations like Egypt, Israel, Morocco and Turkey reduced significantly, flight levels to and from intercontinental destinations further away, such as South Korea and Taiwan, remained constant or even slightly increased, says the research council. “Again, this increases the average distance per flight, causing a corresponding increase in fuel consumption and CO2 emissions.” However, the NLR acknowledges that due to a lack of precise usage data, it has counted freight-in-cabin flights as passenger operations. While this does not affect the overall figures, the relative impact of cargo or long-haul passenger flights changes depending on how those freight-in-cabin services are categorised. And although total CO2 emissions fell, lower passenger loads ensured that emissions per person were pushed up. Statistics show that occupancy on flights to and from the Netherlands’ five largest airports approximately halved over the March-May period, meaning that emissions per passenger-kilometre “have almost doubled”. IATA figures suggest a slightly lower reduction in passenger occupancy across the whole of Europe – down 40% from March to May and down 30% from March to August. “It is plausible that this trend also applies to the Netherlands,” says Peerlings. “That means that emissions per passenger have fallen somewhat again compared to earlier this year. Nevertheless, the fuel consumption per person is significantly higher than before the crisis,” he says. However, the NLR believes that the accelerated introduction of new-generation aircraft – which burn less fuel – due to the coronavirus crisis, will have a positive impact on CO2 levels. “If we perform all flights again in the period March to September 2019, but in a situation where the oldest aircraft have been replaced by a newer generation, this will save more than 4% in CO2 emissions.” In its analysis, older aircraft include the Airbus A300, A310, A340 and Boeing 737 Classic, 747, 757, and 767, with newer models comprising the A330, 737NG, 777, 787. That percentage would increase further if the latest generation of aircraft were introduced, it adds.

Source: Cirium

American Airlines has expanded its pre-flight coronavirus testing programme, hoping to inspire customers’ confidence to return to air travel. The Fort Worth-based carrier says on 2 November that it is giving guests to vacation destinations such as Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia and Hawaii the opportunity to test ahead of time. It will partner with the at-home testing provider LetsGetChecked to offer travellers the tests from 16 November. “Our initial preflight testing has performed remarkably well, including terrific customer feedback about the ease and availability of testing options,” Robert Isom, the carrier’s president says. The next phase will be targeted at “reopening international travel and driving industry recovery while delivering a safe and positive travel experience.” American introduced the testing on selected flights from its Dallas/Fort Worth hub to Hawaii, which relaxed isolation restrictions earlier this month. Now the programme will be extended to other departure airports for flights headed to the islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. United Airlines led the way in pre-departure testing for passengers headed to the archipelago and Hawaiian Airlines followed shortly thereafter. On 15 October, the state of Hawaii allowed inbound travellers to side-step the 14-day mandatory isolation rule if able to show a negative coronavirus test no more than 48h old. But a complex patchwork of travel restrictions and isolation requirements across the USA continue to hamper a sustainable recovery of passenger air travel. Potential customers are wary of booking flights without knowing for sure if they will be forced to quarantine when they get to where they are going, or on their way home again. The regions around New York City, Washington DC and Chicago maintain strict quarantine requirements for arriving domestic passengers from more than 30 other US states. The rules for overseas destinations can be even more confusing, and the punishment in case of violating them quite severe. Nevertheless, airlines are hoping to benefit from pent-up demand in the coming months as the all-important Thanksgiving and Christmas holiday season looms. Numerous airlines say that pre-departure testing is a way to bridge the timeframe before a vaccine will be widely available. On its earnings call last week, American reported a $2.4 billion loss for the third quarter as the coronavirus kept guests from planning too far in advance. The airline also furloughed 19,000 staff after federal financial assistance for airlines ran out on 1 October, without an extension. American said at the time that it expects overall capacity in the final three months of the year to be down 50% from the same period a year ago, with international long-haul capacity down about 75%.

Source: Cirium